Chapter 3
Chapter Three
HECTOR
“Thanks for inviting me to the party. I had fun,” I told Atlas later that night.
I’d opened the diner for a few hours, and Atlas had insisted on staying with me despite my protests. We were back home now in my little apartment above the diner.
Atlas had just gotten out of the shower. He had a towel over his shoulders to catch the stray water droplets from his hair. He looked so cozy and adorable in one of his PJ sets. This one matched our current fall weather with leaves printed in orange and yellow.
No matter how many times I’d seen him show up beside me on the couch in one of his many PJ sets, it still made my heart beat loud in my ears. He looked so cozy and homey, like he was as comfortable here as if he were in his own home. His home with me.
I wasn’t used to this. My wife—ex-wife—and I lived in this apartment together for over a decade, but it was never like this.
Not us sitting together on the couch after a long day at work just to enjoy each other’s company.
Maybe it had started out like that, back when Angelina and I had first gotten together.
But definitely not in the last decade. She’d gotten sick of my presence by then, been tired of me.
Everyone always did eventually, and it would be the same for Atlas.
“I could tell everyone loved seeing you, and I’m really glad you came with me,” he replied and flashed me his brilliant smile. The one that made it feel like my monotonous days were worth something.
I tried to push down the hope his words evoked, and cleared my throat to distract myself.
“So, um, I saw you looked pretty chummy there with Clay. Does he, uh, have a thing for you?” I asked, mostly as a reminder to myself that there would always be something better for Atlas than my boring self.
Atlas had his hand in his hair, drying it with his towel. His hand paused at my question. He studied me for a second, then laughed.
“You don’t know, do you?” he asked with an amused glint in his eyes.
I froze. Surely, they hadn’t gotten together already? I knew I had to prepare myself for the eventual fact that Atlas wouldn’t be mine anymore. Not that he was ever mine, but moments like this with him were mine, and soon I probably wouldn’t even have that anymore.
I just didn’t think the end would come so soon.
Atlas’ smile died off when he peered at my expression again. He let the towel fall over his shoulders. I was just caught staring, but I wasn’t really looking at him. I was seeing the empty spot that would soon replace him.
I didn’t even notice he’d scooted closer until his gentle hand was cupping my cheek.
I was startled to find him sitting right in front of me, his body fully facing mine as he sat on the couch with his legs crossed over each other.
Both his hands were on my face, and he was looking at me with soft eyes.
“What?” I rumbled. I tried to look away from those green eyes, but they mesmerized me. Always did, ever since I’d seen them fill with tears, if I was being completely honest.
“Just wanted to touch you.” A smile played on Atlas’ lips.
I was left speechless, as I often was when I was around the man. He had a way of taking all my jumbled thoughts and tossing them into the bin until all I could focus on was those pretty eyes of his.
“As for Clay…”
I tried to turn away at those words, because I wasn’t sure I could look at him when he told me he was going to be running off into the sunset with Clay, and why wouldn’t Atlas want to?
Clay was a nice man. He was a police officer. People in town looked up to him. He was young and handsome and fit, and I was none of those things.
Atlas held my face in place and forced me to look at him.
I could push him off if I really wanted to escape, but I didn’t.
Instead, those green eyes sparkled as they stared right into my fucking soul.
He looked too excited, and that was how I knew the next words out of his mouth were going to devastate me.
“You really don’t know, do you?” he repeated, his cheeks stretched wide.
The stab in my heart hurt more than I thought it would. I steeled myself, knowing the news was going to feel like a thousand blades cutting me open.
“I guess congratulations are in order,” I managed to say, or more like croak out. I knew without a doubt that Atlas was going to tell me he and Clay were now in a relationship.
“Yes, they are,” Atlas agreed, lighting up like the fucking sun.
I’d told myself I’d be happy for him, because this wonderful man, who had graced my insignificant life with just a tiny bit of happiness, deserved fucking everything.
I guess I’m just a failure on all accounts.
“So make sure you congratulate Clay and Dan when you see them again.”
“I will”—it took a second for the words to sink in—“wait, what?”
“Clay and Dan. Make sure to congratulate them on getting together the next time you see them.”
My brow furrowed hard as I tried to process the words.
“I’m surprised you didn’t notice earlier. Although they didn’t outright announce it, they basically told the entire town they were together at the diner,” Atlas said.
My mouth flapped open a couple times, and finally landed on, “Aren’t they brothers?”
“Step,” Atlas said with a smirk. Obviously, they weren’t related by blood, considering they were of different races. “And it doesn’t matter. Not when they’ve been in love since they were kids. Well, at least Dan has, from what I’m told.”
It took me another second for my brain to catch up and stop freaking out, because this meant that Atlas wasn’t getting together with Clay! Who the hell cared if he fell in love with his stepbrother or whatever as long as it wasn’t Atlas.
“Yeah, I’ll definitely give them my congrats when I see them next,” I said easily.
Atlas’ smile was bright again, and he let go of my face, continuing to ruffle his hair with the towel.
“You know you really shouldn’t only focus on the kitchen and maybe pay a little more attention to the dining area.”
If only he knew just how much I paid attention to the dining area and a certain man inside it. But I’d never tell him that.
“So, uh, what were you and Clay talking about at the party?” I asked, mainly to get back on topic. Atlas didn’t need to know how much real estate he took up in my mind.
“Oh, you know,” he replied, shrugging his shoulder. “It was nothing important.”
He was lying to me. Atlas had every right to keep his conversations a secret. He didn’t need to tell me everything. But it was in the way his shoulders tensed just a bit that told me the conversation was a lot more important than he was letting on.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, which immediately had Atlas turning to me. I didn’t make the initiative to touch him often. It was always him making the move with little grazes of the hand or accidental bumps of the hips that lit a fire under my skin.
“You can tell me anything, you know that, right? If you came across a problem or something, I want to help.”
“Yeah, I know,” he breathed. He gently grabbed my hand and nuzzled his cheek into my palm, his eyes closing just barely like he was enjoying the touch too.
And once again, he’d captured my entire fucking heart.
Atlas chewed on his bottom lip. When he opened his eyes again, there was a hint of worry there.
“You know, I was thinking that maybe we should get a security system for the place? At least the upstairs. I found a company that’s willing to come to our town to install it.
Of course, I’ll take care of all the costs and—”
“Wait, wait, Atlas. Where is all this coming from? A security system? In Kither Springs?” I asked.
He probably had to find a company outside of town because a security company didn’t exist here.
Crime was basically nonexistent. The townsfolk would probably say the only criminal around these parts was me.
He nibbled his lip again. “Yeah, yeah. You’re right. I’m being stupid.”
“No, I never said that. You just caught me by surprise. I never thought about needing a security system before.”
Atlas nodded. He guided my hand away from his face and let it fall onto his lap. We both watched as he played with my fingers with both his hands.
“I was just thinking about it since our home is only separated from the diner by a staircase and a single door. And since it’s getting a lot busier recently, especially with more tourists coming in after seeing Wren’s vlogs, I thought it might be smart to take more security measures.
You know, just in case?” he finished with another one-shoulder shrug.
“Okay.”
“Yeah?” Atlas looked up to meet my eyes.
“I can see you’ve been thinking about this a lot, and if it’s that important to you, then of course we’ll get it done.”
Maybe he was used to more crime where he was from. Even though the stories he’d told me about Christmas Falls made it seem like the place was practically the North Pole, but hey, what did I know?
If this was something he wanted, then there was no argument. And I really liked how he called this place our home. Even if we were only roommates, it was still a place that belonged to us.
Plus, with the way he was shining those happy eyes at me, I couldn’t have said no to him even if I wanted to.